


Cold Hands and Warming Hearts

by Kindlingships



Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Accidental Cuddling, Charmy and Vanessa do brunch, Feelings Realization, M/M, Mildly Touch-Starved Finral Roulacase, Sharing a Bed, Sickfic, The Black Bulls base's ever-changing floor plan, Vanessa Enoteca knows all, fever impaired judgement, not exactly in that order, princess carry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 10:28:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21117269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kindlingships/pseuds/Kindlingships
Summary: Finral works too hard and gets sick. Yami finds him. Turns out, dark magic is more comforting than intimidating when you have a fever.





	Cold Hands and Warming Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted more touch-starved Finral after reading solarwitchwrites's fic Follow My Lead so I wrote a sickfic. The brief dog cameo is also a reference to her Keeping Score series. Enjoy!

Finral was the backbone of the Black Bulls. 

No really! The next time one of the younger black bulls tried to order him around he might as well yell “I’m your employer” instead of “I’m your superior”.

Sure, the Wizard King and the Clover Kingdom paid them regularly.

However, The Black Bulls also caused significant properly damage regularly. 

The Magic Knight’s Finance Office was not amused. 

So every so often when funds were running low, Finral had started picking up side jobs to pad their budget and keep the Black Bulls from becoming the In-the-Red Bulls.

It helped that spatial magic was so rare. The majority of people who had it were nobles, and they weren’t very inclined to lend their mana for little jobs, even if the pay was good. Maybe if they had a trading company or something, but even that was a stretch. Finral had discovered very early on that there were companies that would pay a lot of money for spatial mages to transport things quickly. And Finral, who was more Black Bull than noble, could be bought. 

Finral still remembered how the stoic employees of the Magic Knight’s Finance Office had broken down in tears when he said he would help cover the cost of the damages. 

They had erected a small shrine with his portrait on it, surrounded by yul and the type of tea he drank during their monthly meetings. It really creeped him out. Only lovely ladies should stare at his picture like that.

After that, Finral had considered making Yami or Gordan go to the meetings instead, but Yami would never let him hear the end of it when he saw the shrine and Finral was pretty sure that Gordan’s scary appearance wouldn’t keep the Magic Knight’s Finance Office from bullying the Black Bulls out of a budget. Also Yami really didn’t “do” finances or paperwork. That’s why they were Finral’s responsibilities in the first place. 

Actually, Finral was pretty sure he was the only Black Bull who knew how to pay taxes. 

He should have skipped tutoring more. 

The past week had been full of side jobs. Luck and Magna had destroyed the bells of a church in the common realm while fighting off bandits(Finral did not want to know) and Yami’s new sword wouldn’t pay for itself.(He had to stop breaking those things. He knew how much they cost!)

He was just finishing up the last one. The worsening weather had laid the regular delivery men out with colds, leaving the company unable to complete their deliveries on time without magical assistance. It had taken the whole day and drained his mana, but hopefully he had earned enough money to take the Bulls into next month. 

Which was good because Finral was feeling really worn down. He’d had little sleep this weak due to late nights working on the increasing budget and long days using his magic. He hadn’t dressed appropriately for the weather and his Black Bulls cowl has done very little to protect him from the chill. The wind had cut right through to his bones; or at least it felt like it. To top it all off, his head had started hurting around noon and now it was pounding against his skull.

Finral couldn’t wait to get back to base and sleep. 

Ideally, he would portal directly back to his room, but the floorplan might be changed by now. He didn’t want to portal back and find out the previous location of his bedroom was now the edge of a roof. Or the boobytraped hallway to the girls’ rooms. Again. 

_Nope. Nope. Don’t want to relive that nightmare._

Finral portaled back to base.

As soon as Finral exited his portal outside the main entrance he nearly tripped over his own feet. The ache of his depleted mana and pounding of his head were making him dizzy. 

That last portal was a mistake. He should have waited for some mana to replenish before coming back.

He fumbled for the door handle to steady himself. It took him a minute to regain his bearings, but he eventually managed to enter the building into the common room.

Finral found himself alone in the common room save for a couple of the dogs. Either it was later than he thought or his squadmates were off doing their individual things.

At least it’s quiet.

He was thankful. His squadmates were good people but their regular noise level would definitely have worsened his headache. 

Finral made a b-line for the couch closest to him and sat down. 

_There. I’ll just rest for a second and then I’ll go and find where my room is._

Finral passed out sitting up on the couch. 

* * *

Yami walked into the common room, looking for the newspaper he’d left there, and found something weird instead.

His dogs were all piled on and around the couch. And sitting there in the center of the dogpile, was Finral. He was buried under the dogs and sleeping like a baby. 

“Heh”, Yami chuckled.

_He can pretend all he wants that he doesn’t like them, but it’s pretty obvious. I’ll have to rib him about it later._

But for now, his newspaper.

He looked around the common room to locate the damn thing but didn’t see it.

_Where was I sitting earlier?_

His gaze drifted back to Finral and the dogs. Yep. Right there, peeking out between limbs, was a hint of white paper.

“Ah, well guess it’s time to break up this lovefest.”

He stalked over to the couch to wake Finral and his mutts. 

He slammed his arm against the back of the couch and got up in Finral’s face, summoning his dark magic to freak the guy out.

The mutts jumped off the couch and away from him, yelping and barking as they scattered across the room.

“Now where have you been, ya lazy bum? Off chasing those dates of yours?”

Finral hardly stirred. 

_Weird. Normally he jumps a foot in the air._

“Yo Finral, ya deaf or something? Wake up.”

Finral’s eyes started to open and he glanced up at Yami. 

This close up, Yami got a good look at Finral’s face. His hair was more mussed up than normal, and sweat was sticking some of it to his forehead. Violet eyes were half lidded and glassy. 

_Now that I’m paying attention, his ki’s a bit off too._

“Huuh, Yami? Wha are ya doin’ here?”, Finral slurred. 

Yami pulled back to look at Finral consideringly before answering.

“I’m lookin’ for my paper. And guess who’s sitting on it.”

It took a moment, but Finral seemed to register what he’d said.

“Oh! Me, I guess?” 

Finral looked at the paper that was crumbled under him.

“Here. I’ll get it for you.” Finral started to get up but his legs buckled from under him.

Lucky for him, Yami was there to steady him. He wrapped his arm around Finral’s shoulders and pulled him against his side to steady him. It heated up where they made contact.

“What’s up with you?”

Finral tensed up and started blabbering.

“With me? Ah, nothing. Sorry! I guess I just was a bit dizzy after waking up. Ha, ha!” Finral plastered a smile on his face, but his voice was still shaky. “You can let me go now. I’m fine.”

Yami frowned. “The hell you are.”

Yami raised his free hand to Finral’s forehead. It was burning like a fricken furnace. 

“Shit, you’re burning up! How’d you get like this?”

Finral didn’t answer. The fake smile was gone and he had a weird, blissed out stare. Yami removed his hand from the forehead. Finral leaned to try and follow it and whimpered when it was out of reach. 

_The fuck?_

Finral’s eyes snapped back into focus. They darted from side to side like he they did when he was looking for an escape route. 

“Sorry, you were getting your paper, right? Well, it’s right there on the couch if you want it.”

“Don’t try to change the subject idiot. How’d you get sick?”

The plastic smile was back. Finral stared down at the ground and refused to meet Yami’s eyes. 

“Oh, well, I might have caught a small cold on the side job I worked today. It’s nothing to worry about though. I’m just going to find where my room’s at and sleep it off.”

Yami raised one eyebrow. “And how are you going to get to your room if you can’t walk?”

Finral huffed. “I can walk just fine if you let me go.”

“Prove it.” Yami released his hold on Finral’s shoulders.

Predictably, Finral collapsed.

* * *

_Yeah, I’m falling. _

He’d basically asked Yami to let him go but he hadn’t prepared for it to happen.

The comforting cold that had cut through his hazy state a minute ago had disappeared and the room was spinning in Finral’s vision as he approached the ground.

_Ahh, I’m really weak aren’t I?_

An arm caught him around his waist before he could hit the floor. The cold was back and it sent a shiver up his spine.

“Yeah, you sure proved it.” Yami drawled. “Well now that it’s obvious you’re sick, let’s get you to a doctor.” 

Yami adjusted his grip on Finral’s waist and slid his other arm underneath his legs, lifting Finral up to cradle him against his chest.

_Okay, what the hell is up with this carry!?_

“What are you doing!?”, Finral sputtered.

Yami looked down at him, unimpressed. “I already said I was taking you to a doctor. Now shut up and hang on, why don’t you? Don’t leave all the work to me.”

“Uhh”, reluctantly Finral reached up to grab around Yami’s neck. Then, his hands touched the bare skin there and he relaxed into the hold, burying his face into Yami’s chest. 

_Oh my god. Why does that feel so good?_

Yami walked towards the door that led outside and opened it. It was pouring outside. Finral could hear thunder in the distance. 

“Oh.” Yami deadpanned. 

Yami looked down at the spatial mage in his arms.

“Hey sicko. Any way you could push past your limits and manage a portal to get us to Doc Owen’s?”

Finral’s response was muffled. “Out of mana.”

“Crud.”

There was a pause, and then Yami said, “No helping it then.”

Yami moved away from the door, closing it carefully with Finral in his arms, and turned back into the base. 

The haziness was seeping back into Finral’s head but he still managed to ask “What are you doing now?” 

“Well, we’ll just have to wait it out. Either the rain stops or one of the other idiots gets back from their missions and I send them to get a doctor.”

Finral was fading out to the rhythm of Yami’s footsteps.

“Oh, ok,” he breathed, and then he lost himself in the relieving cold of Yami’s magic.

* * *

Finral had passed out. Yami could still feel the shaky breathing against his chest, but Finral had stopped responding. Yami wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing. 

Most of the Black Bulls, excluding Henry, didn’t get sick too often. And even then, they mostly just complained up a storm in the common room, ate some of Charmy’s soup, and were back on missions in a couple of days. 

Yet Finral strayed from the sick Black Bulls script. Even though he was obviously sick, he had tried to hide it. It made Yami’s stomach drop, but now wasn’t the time to unpack Finral’s behavior. Right now, he had to figure out where to put the guy. 

After all, he didn’t know where Finral’s room was today. His room tended to appear on one of the upper floors, in one of the towers. That meant a lot of troublesome searching Yami really didn’t want to do, especially when he was carrying a passed out spatial mage.It also meant it was often far from the bathroom, which by design was often placed on lower floors. That didn’t matter much when Finral could just portal to it, but if he was sick enough that he couldn’t use his magic if he had to puke, then that could leave an even more troublesome issue. 

Finral didn’t weigh much(and Yami really had to tell Charmy to put more on Finral’s plate), but even Yami couldn’t carry him forever. And putting him in a random bedroom could lead to losing track of the guy if the base rearranged.

_Guess that leaves only one option._

Yami set a course for his room.

* * *

Yami entered his room. He didn’t have the biggest or most elaborate room in the house but it was good enough for him. There was an unmade bed, a dresser, and a large window. The most extravagant thing in the room was probably the fireplace and armchair setup he had. It was good for when he wanted to read his paper away from the idiots. 

He carried Finral over to the bed. He seemed dwarfed by the large bed as Yami set him down. Which made sense. The bed was made to accommodate a guy with Yami’s bulk and Finral was tiny by comparison.

Finral’s eyebrows were furrowed in pain and it looked like his clothes were damp with sweat. 

_He should probably change clothes before he gets under the covers. _

Yami chose an old robe of his from the dresser. It was soft and fastened with a belt, so it shouldn’t be difficult for Finral to put on. 

“Finral, wake up. I need you to change into this.”

Yami shook Finral’s shoulder until his eyes started to open. Then helped him sit up. 

Finral looked even more out of it, swaying as he reached down to remove his boots. He fumbled with the buckles, but eventually managed to slide them off. Next, came his pants. Yami raised him a little by his shoulders to give him leverage to remove them. Now in his boxers, he pulled his shirt over his head. Halfway through the motion, he halted and stared out of the tunnel of fabric spanning his arms like he wasn’t sure what he was doing there. It was hilarious but pathetic. Yami tugged at the bunched fabric to remove it and then Finral was shirtless. There were goosebumps all along his arms and chest despite the heat he radiated.

Yami handed Finral the robe to put on, but Finral just set it on his lap and stared at it.

“You don’t need to take care of me. I can manage on my own. I know it’s troublesome to do all this.” Finral’s words were almost inaudible, but full of self-deprecating bull. Yami was almost a bit insulted on Finral’s behalf. 

“And here I thought my job as Captain was to keep you lot in fighting shape.” Yami gestured to Finral. “You think you look like you’re in fighting shape? I barely want to look at you until you’re back on your feet.” To prove his point, Yami grabbed the comforter from the foot of the bed and tossed it over Finral’s head. 

Finral shrieked and fumbled it off of his head. 

He scowled at Yami and spat, “Fine”. He huffed and grabbed the robe from his lap and shrugged it on before tying a simple knot with the belt. Finral was swimming in it, one sleeve almost falling off his shoulder, but it didn’t look too bad on him, even with the angry stares he kept shooting at Yami. 

“Are you going to keep making eyes at me or are you going to get some rest?” 

Finral flushed even more, but he finally laid down again, pulling up the blanket up under his arms. Brow furrowed, he closed his eyes, and in a couple of minutes the only sounds he made were shaky breaths. 

Yami dragged the armchair over to the bedside. If he had to wait for more of the Black Bulls he might as well make himself comfortable. 

_Maybe I should run and grab my newspaper real quick._

Yami was on his way out the door when he was distracted by the water pitcher and basin that he used to wash his face.

_Oh yeah. Can’t you use wet cloths to reduce fevers?_

Yami grabbed a washcloth and dipped it into the basin. He wrung it out and went to wipe some of the sweat off of Finral’s feverish face. The cloth warmed up quickly after making contact. 

_Guess I should dunk it in the water again. _

Yami made to remove his hand from Finral’s forehead, fingers brushing the soft,damp hair as he pulled away.

“No, keep that there!”

Yami choked on his own spit.

“You’re still awake?”

Finral’s eyes were still welded shut, but he turned his head towards Yami’s voice. “Am I? Whatever. Keep that there.”

“Why?”

“I’m hot. Head hurts. Hand’s cold.”

Finral managed to open his eyes enough to glare. 

“So keep touching me.”

Yami stared.

_Is he delirious or something?_

While Yami kept standing there Finral had started pouting. He reached out and grabbed Yami’s left wrist to pull Yami’s hand back towards him. Still surprised, Yami didn’t resist the motion and landed on the bed above Finral.

Yami hovered above Finral. His legs were spread above his hips and his right arm was braced against the bed at the side of Finral’s head to keep his weight off of the guy. The weird angle Finral had his left arm at wasn’t helping him succeed at that. 

Finral was holding his arm against the bed and had turned to the side to press his forehead against Yami’s palm. A corner of his mouth was upturned. It was the first time today Yami had seen Finral smile for real.

“Ah,that feels so good!”

_Oh he is definitely delirious. _

Yami rolled onto the bed next to Finral. His arm was still stuck in Finral’s grasp, but at least he was no longer topping the guy.

_I’ll just wait until he falls asleep and then I’ll take my arm back and go read my paper. _

* * *

When Yami woke up,Finral was cuddled against his side. Finral was still clasping his one arm but now it was closer to his chest than his forehead. Said forehead was now tucked against Yami’s chest. Yami’s other arm was pulling Finral in closer, circling around his back so that his fingers were resting in the tangled hair on his head. One of Finral’s legs crooked around Yami’s legs. 

Yami stiffened. 

_Shit. I fell asleep. _

Finral’s hair was haloed around his head on the pillow and the early morning light was turning his messy, dirty blond hair to woven gold. 

_Well, shit. SHIT! That’s a problem. _

He should Not be waxing poetry about Finral’s dumb hair, no matter how soft it was. 

And, yeah, he should probably leave before Finral woke up and freaked out.

Yami carefully untangled himself from Finral. The guy didn’t wake up, but he looked a bit weird grasping for something that was no longer there. He checked his temperature once more before he left, ignoring how Finral relaxed at the touch. It wasn’t as hot as the night before. That was good. Finral would be out of his bed in no time. 

Yeah, that was good.

Yami exited his room. 

The base had rearranged itself during the night, and for the first time since he moved in the bathroom was right next door.

_Man why can’t Henry always put that there? Sure would be useful when I need to take a dump._

Yami relieved himself; then navigated his was down to the common room, where he sensed two of his Black Bulls. 

“Oh hey Captain, how was your night?”

Vanessa was behind the bar. She had orange juice and a bottle of champagne out on the counter and was mixing them together in a tall glass.

Charmy was nearby. She had some of her sheep chefs cooking her up an endless breakfast. Yami caught glimpses of hashbrowns, eggs, and breakfast sausages before they disappeared into her black hole of her stomach.

“You want some breakfast Captain? I’m making some yummy pancakes next!”, Charmy offered. 

Vanessa added, “I’m making mimosa’s too if you want one. I found this great bottle in the cellar.”

Yami sat down on one of the couches and lit up a cigarette. He took a long drag to calm down before answering, “I would but we’ve got a sick bull on our hands and I need one of you to go get some medicine.”

Vanessa frowned and put down the bottle. “Who’s sick?”

“Our resident spatial mage.” Yami drawled.

“Finral? That’s no good. How’s he feeling?” 

“He has a fever but he’s been sleeping most of it off. Can you get him medicine?”

Vanessa nodded. “Sure. Where’s his room? I’ll have to get a list of his symptoms for the apothecary.”

Yami stood up. “I’ll get you that list. I need to yell at that idiot anyway.”

“Yell at him, why?”

“Because he’s an idiot.”

* * *

Vanessa watched Yami leave the room before she turned to Charmy, smirking.

“Well, it sure seems like Yami’s worried about Finral.”

“Yep!.” Charmy opened her grimoire. “I’m going to make a bunch of yummy soup for when Finral wakes up!”

“Oh, you should make that one chicken noodle. I think that’s his favorite.”

Charmy stuck out her chest in pride. “Vanessa please, who do you think I am? It’s already started.”

Vanessa laughed, “I should never have doubted you.”

* * *

Finral woke to the sun trying to burn his eyes out.

_What happened to my curtains? _ He’d paid good money for those curtains and expected them to block out the stupid dawn.

Finral sat up quickly to look for the truant curtains. However, in addition to a window missing curtains, he could also see an armchair, a dresser, and a fireplace. None of which matched the furniture in his room and all of which were spinning in his vision.

_This is not my room._

This was not his room.

Finral started to panic. 

The door opened and a familiar voice spoke. “Oh good, you’re awake.”

_Oh good, the captain. _ Someone who could tell him what was going on.

“Yami? Where am I?”

“My room.”

_Um, what._

“And what am I doing here?”

Yami sat down in the armchair and side-eyed him. “Being an idiot.”

Finral blinked. “Whaaat? That can be the real reason.”

“Sure is. Only idiots wear themselves out when they have a whole squad they can lean on.”

_Alright, I’m confused._

“Okay, can you back up a bit? What even happened?”

“Far as I can tell, you worked yourself sick filling the squad’s treasury. Care to explain?”

_That makes more sense. _ Finral stuck up his chin. “Well, we had a lot of damage expenses this month and I like eating.” Finral paused. “Was I really that sick?”

The incredulous look from Yami said it all. “You trying to tell me you feel right as rain after the fever you were running last night?”

Finral fidgited, “No.” The room was still spinning from when he sat up too quickly.

“And how do you feel?”

Finral sighed and admitted,”Like crap.”

“Yeah, I’m going to need more details than that if I’m going to send Vanessa to get you medicine.”

“You don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine.”

“Finral.” Yami warned, gathering dark magic behind him, promising pain.

_Yikes. _ “The room keeps spinning, my head’s pounding, I’m uncomfortably hot and sweaty and if the sun keeps attacking my eyes I think I’m going to puke.”

Yami nodded. “That’s more like it. Don’t go hiding stupid shit from your Captain. And if money gets tight again let me know. We can always make Luck and Magna do deliveries with that crazy cyclone of his. They cause most of the damage as is.”

Finral gave a sheepish laugh and rubbed his neck. “Ok,” Finral relented, and added, “but I didn’t cause too much trouble did I? I mean-I kinda took over your bed.”

Yami cleared his throat and turned away, grumbling, “Well, I’ll go get Charmy to make you some soup. Maybe then you’ll feel better enough to find your own damn bed.” He stood up. 

Yami’s face was slowly turning red.

_Is he blushing?!_

Yami retreated out of the bedroom door. 

_That was so weird. _

Finral still didn’t feel that great, but he would soon. And in the meantime, maybe he could get Yami to spill and tell him what happened that made him blush like that; because that was so, so weird.

But first.

_What am I wearing?_

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is massive compared to what I've written before but I enjoyed writing it so much! Let me know what you thought!


End file.
